Apparatus for grinding and polishing gems.



APPARATUS FOB `(ailNDlN-. AND PLISHINGGEMS.

(Application led Dec. 26, 1901.)

2 sheets-sheet (llo Model.)

No. 701,879-h 4 Patenmu'lune' m,l |902.

^ ne, HILLIAnn. APPARATUS FOB GRINYDING.NDPOLISHINGGEM (Appumion me@ me. 2c, 190i.)

2 sheets-snm 2.

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UfNrr'i-:n `v 'STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK E. HILLIARD, OF BROOKLYN ,NEW YORK, ASSIGNORTO LIPPMAN TANNENBAUM, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR GRINDINGAND POLJSl-HNGVGEM'S.l

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 701,879, dated J une 10, 1902. Application tiled December 2 6 1901. Serial No. 87,220. (No model.)

T all whom, it may concer-nf:

Beit known that I, FREDERICK E. HiLLIARn, a citizen of the United States, residing at No. 302 Livingston street, in the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State of New York, have linvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Grinding and Polishing Gems, ofwhich the following description and'accompanying drawingsconstitute a specification.

My 'improvementrelates to machines for manipulating precious stones4 while undergoing the processof grinding and polishing.

It consists in an improved .supporting-arm-- capable of ready, precise, and positive ad-4 justments with relation both to thework-taand with greater precision, accuracy, and ri-` gidity than by any means now known in the art, thus enabling the lapidary to produce a cutting of any predetermined pattern, the

facets of the gems so cut being disposed with f lap; 3, the supporting-post for the bed of the frame; 4', the clamp, permitting the raising utmost regularity.

My invention further consists in certainA structural advantages permitting increased range and facility of operation and observa` tion, hereinafter more particularly described. In the drawings forming part of this speciiication, Figure 1 illustrates in side elevation, partially sectional, the supporting-arm secured to the Work-table and adjusted to the lap, the dop, spindle, and adjustable holder beingindicated in dotted outline.' Fig. 2 illustrates in section the cylindrical shoulder borne by the Vertical screw member of the supporting-arm and against which the dop-holder is pressed by the lapidary. Fig. 3 is a side View, and Fig. 4 is a top" view-,'of the part illustrated in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 shows the dop, its holder, and adjusting mechanism, principally in section. Fig. 6 shows the same parts on a plane at right angles to Fig. 5 with the casing partially broken away and the supporting-socket in section. Fig. 7 illustrates the dop-spindle carrying the rigidly-mounted toothed guidewheels shown in Figs. 10 and 13 in detail, Fig. 10 illustrating a guide-wheelof sixteen teeth, and Fig. 13 illustrating a guide-wheel vof twenty teeth. Fig. 8 is a view of the end of the dop-holder shown adjacently'in Fig. 5

and illustrates the concaved'socket terminating the' upperend of the tool adapted to engage'with a cylindrical shoulder'of a guide- .block-and'pierced to'allow the introduction 'of the screw-bearing. Fig. 11 isa view of the end of the dop-holder shown adjacently in Fig. 5 and illustrates the screw-cap closing the lower end of the tool and bearing a scale registering with a pointer borne on the spinl dle. Figs. 9 and l2 are vertical sections through the dop-spindleand holder, as shown in Fig. 6, and at right angles thereto, illustrating, respectively, the two positions of the toothed clamp, Fig. 9 showing it disengaged from and Fig. 12 showing it in engagement with its corresponding guide wheel or disk.

4Similar reference charactersindicate correspondin g parts throughout the several iigures, as follows:

1 is the bench or table; 2, the revolving and lowering of the post; 5, the frame-bed, upon which rests the supporting-arm 6; 7,

the clampfor permitting the forward or backward movement of the frame; 8, a screw-post revolubly set at its base in the frame-bed and at its top in the supporting-arm 9, a gnarled head for turning the screw-post, permitting the block 10 to travel thereon; 11, a screwvclamp for setting the block 10 at a desired extension.

18 is a set-screw permitting the holder to be turned to any desired angle of inclination to the lap.

19 is the dop-spindle, bearing the toothed guide-disks 20.

2l ,represents slotted latches sliding under the screws 22.

23 represents springs pressing against the toothed clamps 24 and held by the screws 25.

2G is an annulus to tighten the split holder 27 upon the dop or stick for holding the gem. (Not shown.)

28 represents the knobbed pins for releasing the clamps from engagement with the toothed guides 20.

29 is a pointer registering with the scale 30, indicating the set position of the spindle.

The scale 30 is shown as upon the bottom of the tool; but in my preferred form of construction this scale is borne on the side of a revoluble cap surmounting 3l, which is the screw-cap closing the lower end of the holder to exclude dust and forming the bearing of the lower end of the dop-spindle. In the preferred construction the pointer is fixedly mounted on the side of the tool.

The holder is cylindrical in form, being extended at one end to form a bearing-socket, pierced to permit an adjustable screw-bearing rmly to center the spindle-shaft, whose outer end sets in a recess in the incasing holder and whose lower end is centered by a bearing in the screw-cap closing the lower end of the holder, said cap being bored to permit the lower end of the spindle to project from the holder, such extension being screw-threaded to receive the dop-holder proper, which is interiorly threaded to engage firmly with such spindle and whose lower end is split to receive the gem-stick, which is retained therein by the screw-threaded annulus engaging with the thread on the exterior of said dop -holder. The spindle proper freely revolves in its bearings and has rigidly fixed to it,or preferably integral therewith, a number of peripherally-toothed guidedisks. The drawings show eight, the four upper disks having sixteen teeth each, while the four lower each have twenty. These disks are so disposed as to permit the engagement of any single disk by the toothed stop controlling it upon the pulling out of the sliding latch on the exterior of the holder corresponding to the disk desired, such latch normally holding its stop out of engagement. The spindle is thus set by the interlocking of the teeth of any stop with the teeth of its corresponding disk, as upon releasing the stop from its latch it engages with its disk by spring-pressure and is so held until disengaged by pressing the corresponding button and by sliding the latch forward to retain it in its normal position of non-engagement. These disks have their teeth so disposed as to permit the gem tobe girdled, in the example selected, with sixteen facets. Each disk serves as it is rotated tooth by tooth to present a fresh part of the gems surface, and as a facet is cut the spindle is rotated another tooth and a new facet is presented until the disk has completed step by stepits revolution. The disk is then held in engagement until the second disk is ready to control the spindle, being held by its stop meanwhile, andthe cutting then proceeds, the new disk similarly being revolved step by step and the spindle turning correspondingly, presenting, for example, the angles formed by the facets of the primary girdle. The revolution of the second disk thus produces a girdle of thirty-two facets. The angles formed by these new facets in turn may be ground off by the use of the third and fourth disks, thus again doubling the number of facets. The disposition of the peripheral teeth is seen to be simply a matter of mathematical calculation. In the example illustrat-ed and just described there are two sets of disks-four to each set, as stated. The first set has four disks of sixteen teeth each, and the second set has four disks of twenty teeth each, the first set being adapted to produce the several patterns of cutting known as the brilliant cuts. The teeth are disposed at equally-distant intervals about the periphery, the spaces between them equaling their width in all cases. In disk ce the sixteen teeth are the standard to which the location of the teeth of the other disks of its set are related. The teeth on disk l) are opposite the intervals between the teeth on disk d. Disk chas its teeth so set that the angles formed by the facets resulting from the cutting with disks a and l) are presented as the spindle is revolved. As but sixteen teeth are shown on disk c, but sixteen cuttings may be made by it. As this is but half the number of angles resultant from the cuttings with disks a and Z1, a fourth disk is needed to cut the remaining sixteen facetangles, and so to complete the sixty-four facets. It is obvious that disk c might have thirty-two teeth and the entire cutting of sixty-four facets be completed with the third disk; but I ind better results are obtained by dividing the regulation between two disks, as the limit of mechanical perfection attainable in tools for work of this '.fineness and which are subject to severe strain by reason of the hardness of the gems seems to be reached when more than twenty fixed positions are sought to be given the spindle bya controllable hand-tool, a greater number of teeth than twenty resulting in a sacrifice of rigidity.

The dop-holder is shown in the drawings in full size and is adapted to be held conveniently in the hand, affording ease and certainty in manipulation. By means of my tool the lapidary may execute with cxactness all the usual styles of cuttings of gems, brilliant,

rose, and table or trap, with their variations,

IOO

as half, full, split or double brilliant, and can modify these cuttings or produce manifold new cuttings, and in particular can cut to best advantage gems of irregular outline, such as pear shapes, hearts, and marquise.

In cutting a brilliant, for example, it is necessary with the prior forms of .mechanical guides to remove the gem-holding stick from the holder in order to girdle the stone with more than thirty-two facets; but with my tool the Whole cuttingmayproceed Without re-` moval of the gem by a simple series of adjustments up to agirdle of eighty facets, the limitation of that form of my invention shown.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim isl.` In a machine for-cutting and polishing gems, the combination of a standard, means for adjusting same vertically and horizontally, a screwed shaft-support from and revolubly mounted in said standard with means forrevolving said shaft, a screw-threaded block arranged to travel on said shaft, means for setting said block rigidly at any point on said shaft, means for registering the elevation of said block, a shoulder on said block and versely through said casing, a corresponding-` series of springs on said. casing engaging with said stops and tending to engage them with said disks, a corresponding series of latches on said casing holding saidstops normally out of engagement and means for releasing the stops fromengagement, substantially as Vshown and described.

3.1m a dop-holder, the combinationof a cylindrical casing, a spindle revolubly mounted therein, a contained means for positively locking said spindle-at any desired point of rotation, with means for measurably indicati ing such degree of rotation, as and for the purposes set forth.

FREDERICK HILLIARD.

Witnesses:

SEWARD Davis, OLIVER lWILLIAMS. 

